Names

my Christina - March 2010

I like babies. A lot. And I like names. Ever since I was little, I've liked to think about what I might name my kids someday (should I ever be so blessed as to have some of my own). I can remember looking through old books of baby names that my mom still had from when she was pregnant with my brothers and me; I loved reading all the names, along with their meanings and origins. Since, as a nine-year-old, I didn't have any babies to name, I mainly used these books to come up with names for characters in stories that I was writing. If I'm remembering correctly, names such as Jessica and Aimee and Olivia were some of my favorites at the time (I don't remember any boy names that I used).

About a year ago, while sitting in the waiting room during my sister's speech therapy appointment, I decided to make a new list of names that I like and may use at some point in the future. Unfortunately, this list was misplaced when I moved to Texas, and despite having searched for it for several months (at the request of my dear sister-friend Everly, who loves names just as much as I do), all of my digging through boxes and under beds and in notebooks was in vain. Until this afternoon, that is, when I stumbled across it while looking for my original notes on Chris Riser's Psalm 139 sermon, which was the subject of my earlier blog post today. So anyway, without further ado, here is the long-awaited list (in no particular order, and you'll see my thoughts on some of these names have changed over the last year):

Girls

1. Anna

2. Anastasia (though I like this name less now than I did at the time)

3. Erin (again, don't like it as much)

4. Josie (don't like it)

5. Chloe

6. Rachael

7. Rebekah

8. Hannah

9. Adrianna

10. Alyssa

11. Meredith

12. Natalia (still like it, but not as much; actually, I like how it sounds but not how it's written)

13. Kathryn

14. Emily

15. Grace

16. Janet

17. Amelia

18. Carita (not so much)

Boys

1. Caleb

2. Jonathan

3. Jeremiah

4. Josiah

5. Hezekiah (ehh, not sure about this one)

6. Micah

7. Ryan

8. Isaac

9. Aaron (maybe)

10. Samuel

So those are the 2009 lists. Since that time, I've decided that I want to name my first daughter Janet Grace (and call her Grace), after my mom (Janet Sue, but she loved the name Grace, as do I). I also would love to adopt my Christina, and give her the middle name Rose (unfortunately, that's not super likely to happen, but we'll see). Since I wrote this list a year ago, I've thought of/heard several other names that I really like -- though unfortunately, I didn't write them down and my super-tired brain can only remember a few at this moment: Amberly (girl) and William (boy). If I think of others, perhaps I'll update again (or at least just start a new list). Anyway, there ya go, Miss Everly; hope you enjoyed this!